Central panel on hill talks

New Delhi, Oct. 11: The Union home ministry has formed a negotiation committee of its officials to initiate a composite dialogue with the Mamata Banerjee government and representatives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on the Gorkhaland issue, government sources said.

The sources said the Centre was committed to help the Bengal government find a permanent solution and ruled out any direct intervention in Darjeeling.

“We are working out the modalities and parameters before initiating the process,” a home ministry official told The Telegraph.

He did not spell out the terms of reference of the committee, its tenure and which of the two factions in the Morcha — the Bimal Gurung camp or the Binay Tamang-Anit Thapa group — would be called for the talks.

“After holding the talks, the committee will submit their recommendations to the Centre,” the official said.

Home minister Rajnath Singh had announced on September 26 that a meeting would be convened within a fortnight (the 15-day window closed today) to discuss all related issues and issued an appeal, following which Gurung had called off the 104-day-old strike.

“Certain issues have to be sorted out before kick-starting the composite dialogue process with the stakeholders,” the official added.#Another official hinted that Rajnath might speak to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “Before initiating the talks, the Bengal chief minister will be taken into confidence and the dates of the meeting will be decided only after the state government consents,” the official said.

The Centre has been adopting a cautious approach, given the region’s strategic borders. “In a federal structure, the state government needs to examine it (the statehood demand) and take a call. We are more concerned about the security aspects.”

Following the Sikkim footstep, Darjeeling transporters’ association has decided to bar all outside vehicles for sight-seeing trips in Darjeeling from April 1. Mostly, taxis from Sikkim and even taxis from Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal are being seen providing services to tourists at sight-seeing points in Darjeeling. The association has decided […]

State government is considering to recruit GLP (Gorkhaland Personnel) as Civic Police, who do not have any criminal cases against them. This was stated by Chief Minister during her visit to Darjeeling on Thursday. There were about 5000 GLP under Bimal Gurung for Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 every month, […]

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